Black and Blue: BWWM Romance Read Online Free Page A

If I hadn’t been trying to race home I would have thought clearer but hindsight is 20/20.
    “NO” his voice was thick with emotion that stopped me in my tracks. “You aren’t from here are you?” I shook my head. The whole time we were in the coffee shop we talked about a billion things but we didn’t get personal; more so about school, St. Louis and the changing times, and silly things like reality stars and our favorite songs. But now I felt like Brian was watching out for me, maybe he was just being nice.
    “You don’t need to be out here walking at night. It's no problem...let me walk you home.” I couldn’t say no. He made it clear that he felt that he must walk with me. Staring into his arctic blue eyes, I felt a calm come over me.
    “Okay…” I put one foot in front of the other headed towards my loft. We were quiet but my body was screaming as the thought crossed my mind again. What if … I had never been with a white guy. The closest I came was kissing Adam Breenman in the coat closet of my Elementary school on a dare. But now I was an adult, in a new city, and there was no one here to tell on me or judge me. My Dad wouldn’t approve, my friend’s back home would probably disown me, but who had to know? Stop it! I tried pushing the thoughts from my mind as we walked under the moon to my apartment. But the closer we got to my door, I realized how cool it was to talk to someone so likeminded. When I talked about law terms, he knew what I meant and, of course, he was in the struggles of first law student life so he could relate. It was a connection I hadn’t had with anyone since I got to this city and I didn’t want it to end. With nothing but the sounds of cars and a bit of chatter from people still walking the streets, my mind was filled with thoughts, but the one that stood out above them all was my desire not to be alone. At least for a little while longer I wanted to take advantage of the male company. Approaching my door, I had an out of body experience.
    I felt like I was hovering over top of my self, watching it all unfold with no way to stop things. I was at the front door to my building, home free with my keys in hand. I could have just left things alone and said good night but my confidence had resurfaced somehow while we were walking.
    I had no control over it and for some reason as we stood at the door, I asked the dumbest question ever.
    “Do you wanna come up and have a drink?” Stupid. I wanted to take back the invitation as soon as I extended it. I watched Brian’s face, stalking his expressions until he gave me an answer.
    “Sure, I need a drink after all of that.” I smiled but inside I was freaking out. Whatever part of me that was responsible for my panic attacks was somehow calm but the rest of me was scrambling for things to say as we walked across the lobby to the elevators.
    “So how long have you lived here.” Brian quizzed as we waited for the elevator.
    “A few months. I moved in at the beginning of the summer.”
    “From where?”
    “Georgia.”
    “Ahh… the peach state. So a peach in Missouri?” he laughed as the elevator dinged and its doors opened for us. An older couple came out, glaring at Brian and then back to me but I was used to stares in this building. I was probably one of a hand full of black people that lived in it and no matter what time of day or night they gave me looks. I tried not to think racially but I couldn’t help it, I had my Dad to blame for that.
    “Yeah I guess so. A peach in Missouri.” I pressed the number 7 button and the elevator whisked us away upstairs.
    “So what do you do?” I asked.
    “Well I work for the government. What about you?”
    “This is it. My Dad said if I got into law school he would make sure I could go.”
    “Cool…” he remarked as we walked down the hall to my door. Unlocking the door, I prayed that I didn’t have any panties lying around and hopefully I didn’t leave any dishes in the sink.
    But